The Brumbies made two changes to the side that beat the Lions at home last week. Jahrome Brown replaced Lachlan McCaffrey at flanker and Irae Simone was replaced on the bench by New Zealand-born Wharenui Hawera.

KCOL – there wasn’t much in it. Early on, both sides were quite abrasive, especially Duane Vermuelen. I think a lot of it stemmed from the fact that Genia was getting taken out of the game every time he got the ball. The Rebels may also have been a little frustrated.

Meakes is Mr Consistent at the moment. He doesn’t have many poor games.

Genia certainly did get shut down from the fringes of the ruck and was just not allowed to scoot from the back. Probably close to the first time this season he has been given no space to run.

Fair play to the Bulls in the sense that they were generally more clinical than the Rebels. Most of the time the Bulls managed to take some points away from time in the Rebels’ half. The Rebels, on the other hand, weren’t as clinical and struggled to accumulate points.

Brumbies have shown they are the form team in Australia at the moment. Despite last week’s loss, I’m still liking the look of the Reds and tonight will be a big test for them against the Tahs. I don’t think they will challenge at finals time, but I think there is a lot to like for future seasons at the Reds.

Certainly, agree on Koroibete. For a winger playing outside someone like Quade Cooper, he has only scored one try for the season. There was also definitely one chance down towards the right corner in the second half where a good Test winger would’ve had the pace to score in the corner.

Meakes (when he came on) and Hodge had particularly impressive games.

The Rebels just seemed to continually slip off tackles in the first half, resulting in regular linebreaks from the ‘Canes.

With the Reds and the Brumbies now right on the Rebels’ tail, they have got to quickly turn their form around. They play the Reds next week at home so that will be a big game that will have a big effect the Aussie conference.

Well, it will be interesting. From what little I understand about Sam Whitelock re-signing with NZ rugby, he will still be eligible for All Blacks selection despite playing in in the Japanese League in 2020 (instead of Super Rugby). So I guess if the All Blacks want Parker, they could sign him to a similar deal?

The Crusaders vs Lions match is in Christchurch.
The Brumbies just have to ensure they make use of the momentum they have. You don’t want to leave your run too late so they will want to try and put some consistent performances on the board in the next month.

Hi Bobby, yes Genia is indisputably the no.9 for the Wallabies. The real question is who the reserve half will be. That is why I have tried to present the stats and styles of Phipps, Gordon, McDermott and Powell. It is a crucial position in any team and scrumhalf’s are key decision-makers. This is why the reserve half position will be closely battled between these four.

I agree that McDermott is probably the best all-round scrumhalf at the moment after Genia. I guess it just comes down to whether Cheika thinks it is too early in his career to back him into a World Cup. Cheika may go for Powell or Phipps purely because they already have Test match experience which is vital heading into a World Cup.

You’re right. Tough, but not impossible. If they can come close to replicating a similar performance against the Jaguares, a win is not unlikely. The Jaguares will be confident, especially playing at home with their home crowd behind them.
For me, the Jaguares vs Brumbies game will be one of the matches of the week along with the Crusaders vs Lions match.

Your 100% correct about the Highlanders loose-forward trio of Frizell, Dixon and Lentjes. They are quality. To keep a player like Akira out of the game is a special effort.
The quality of the game compared to the others was noticeable. The handling skills were much cleaner and after the Blues scored the first try, the match really opened up.
For me, I really like the look of Josh Ioane. His kicking style reminds me of Sopoaga and he seems to be very calm under pressure. The more he plays with guys like Aaron Smith, he will continue to improve and could be one to watch in the future.

This year especially. For some reason, the NZ teams are not impossible to beat as typified by the Lions win. The Aussie teams have also had some success this year against NZ teams so it has really opened up the competition

I agree that Beale did have a great kicking game last night. He also took some excellent high balls under pressure. The Waratahs should leave him at 15 for the rest of the season. I think he needs to continue to improve in that area of the game.
With Folau now gone, one thing I believe the Wallabies do lack is a quality fullback. Beale can certainly play that role at the World Cup. We have got plenty of good centres in Meakes, AAC, Hunt, Kuridrani, Kerevi etc. Beale can become the genuine fullback Australia needs.

Hey Ben, yes you are correct, it was Leaware-Walker who made the charge-down. Thanks for correcting me.

If you are referring to the scrum at 75 minutes, I think the only mitigating factor for the referee was that the Sunwolves had the feed into the scrum. I think the referee believed the Hurricanes had claimed enough advantage from the situation because they stole possession from the scrum. The referee also puts his hands in the air to signal that the Hurricanes did so legally. I do take your point though that he didn’t award a penalty. If not a penalty, maybe play advantage?